Noel Winter/Diary
...And Eternity in An Hour I want to change the mirrornet. I want to change the way computers think. It's not as big a deal as people say it is. The problem with the narrow-minded is that they assume computers can do everything. They can't. Alan Turing says the analytical engine's "province is to assist us in making available what we are already acquainted with". Computers just... calculate what we know. The analytical engine manipulates math. But the known world all around us is made entirely of math, from the arc of the sun in the sky, to the intricate angled fractals of a snowflake. Following that - and I want you to really imagine it! -'' the analytical engine can manipulate the world around us. Yeah, I just suggested a computer is God. Suck it, New Creation Solid Rock Trinity Church of the Holy Infant Jesus, where is your God now??? My name is '''Noël'. I'm a Snow Queen, and a Scientist, and really really really good at Sex. The three S's, really. This journal is my personal diary, which will be heavily edited before it's uploaded alongside my computer software program for my senior year project at Ever After High. You get to see it uncut, with all my raw ideas as I think of them (alongside all the sexy memes), because the mirrornet is ethereal and will one day dissipate after the collapse of society and the death of the uploaded cloud. So I guess if I want something to be preserved, I want it to be this - me, raw, unrehearsed, and true to my self - and all the mistakes that implies. Aren't you lucky? Chapter 1: Code Code is just another language, like Latin, or Klingon, or that song that starts with "Day-O". My sister, Crystal, doesn't get it, but then again the only reason she started learning Japanese was so she could translate manga on the scan-lation forum. Crystal, I love you, but your taste in entertainment is trash. I don't think many people get it either, the utter simplicity of code. To most people, it's magic, and magic is something we dont need to explain. It's a thing we take for granted. But every pixel on your mirrorphone, every blip in timespace when someone goes through a mirror, that had to be programmed. So why not re-programmed? Chapter 2: How it all began I think the problem with technology is that no one wants it to improve. We've been stagnant for years every since the Evil Queen got imprisoned in her mirror. She was the person who invented the mirrornet, and it's clear her daughter Raven's more interested in using her magic to help people than to actually help society. The needs of the many, Raven! It's not that hard a concept to grasp! So what we have is the entire society being dependent on technology that's fifteen? twenty years out of date? And the Grimm's are too obsessed with 'tradition' to do anything fresh. It's frustrating. My proposal is simple: rewrite the mirrornet. Focus on blockchain technology, or cloud computing solutions. Think about new ways to use the tech we have, rather than how to keep using it for the same reasons as always. You'd think something like that wouldn't face many problems. But all I needed were two, and their names ended with "Grimm". Chapter 3: The Programme "The syllabus for Cloud-Kingdom Computing doesnt say anything at all about these ideas! Bitcoin, and Internet Gambling, Anonymous Anarchist hacking..." "I got them from outside the Syllabus," I answered with a bit of a shrug. "I like to read all kind of things." "We think these... things may be... subversive," Milton Grimm sneered. "First it's mirronet reform, next it's going to be revolution! anarchy! the end to social order as we know it!" "Which is why," Giles Grimm cut in tactfully, "we thought you'd do better in the Mira Shards Scholarship programme." The skinnier Grimm brother slid a pamphlet across the table to me. Smiling happy teenagers were busy working on building things; A singing lark. A perpetual magic-motion machine. A cudgel that flew and hit people on command. It looked interesting, but I couldnt shake the feeling... "You're promoting me to a special schooling stream to get me out of the way of the other kids, aren't you?" "Try not to think of this as punishment, Ms Winter. There will be other students with you! People... more worthy of your skills!" "This is a fableous opportunity!" Deep in the pit of my stomach I felt a dull aching fear. This wasnt going to be fabelous. Not in the least. Chapter 4: the Workshop My first day in the mirror shards programme was... a total fairy-dust-aster. I wasn't exaggerating. Fairy dust literally exploded in the lab today. It's all over my clothes. It got into my cleavage. Every crack of me has some kind of glitter, and parts of my hair keep floating away whenever I think of something faithful and hopeful. The boy responsible for that sat, stunned, over the wreckage of his circuit board. He blinked wiped his face clean, and began work again. Running a hand through his hair brought it back to a gently-tousled look; one I found both dashing and oddly familiar... "You're him arent you? The next Kay? The boy from my fairytale-" "You work station is number 5." He hadn't looked up. "Pardon?" "The box in your arms suggests you're new to this class and you need to find a place to get started; your gait is loud, you're wearing high boots, a fashion statement in one of the least fashion-conscious classes, probably someone with something to prove and a lot of, possibly a girl from one of the largest families fighting for one of the most contested destinies in the whole school? Last I heard, Noel Winter's work station was number Five." "He's doing it to show off," came a voice from the next cubicle over. "Work station number five is the only unoccupied desk in this room." A tall girl was back-pedalling her swivel chair out and into view. Her hair swayed behind her as she stood up and stretched in a ponderous, feline way. "Tabitha Hu," She purred, stretching out her hand to shake. The tips of her nails had been manicured into perfect shiny claws. "Noel," I answered, returning the handshake. "Noel Winter." "Kai," The circuit board boy leaned back to rejoin the conversation. "No one asked me. I just wanted to be included." "I was right! You are a Kay!" Kai frowned, deep furrows into his brow, before returning to dusting table free of glitter. "What. What did I say?" Tabitha pursed her lips, not meeting my gaze as she picked up my box of things, and started helping me unpack. Chapter 5: Presentation Category:Diaries Category:Subpages Category:Fanfiction